February 24, 2015

No words can describe my feelings about what happened to Muath, our Jordanian pilot. I had two distinct pains when I saw the video. The first pain was that of seeing a human being burned alive inside a metal cage. The second pain was that of seeing a Muslim burned alive ostensibly in the name of Islam.

Those who killed the pilot believed that after the video of burning Muath was broadcast, Jordanians would start burning Jordan in response. On the next day at noon, when people were going to pray for Muath, I was walking to the mosque during the call to prayer. At the same time I heard the chimes of Jordanian church bells, and the sound of Jordanian Air Force planes in the sky. I saw all Jordanians setting aside their political and ideological backgrounds and moving hand-in-hand to pray at the same time for the same reason. Many Muslims lit candles in churches, and many Christians prayed in mosques to give an example to the world, and especially to extremists, how Jordanians respond to anyone trying to benefit from abuse of religion. 

As one of the leaders of Questscope, I am committed to work harder to create second chances for marginalized youth in Jordan and the Middle East, so that they will not lose their chance to have a better future, and so that they will be protected from being victims of any extremist group's ideology.       

Muthanna Khreisat is the Country Director of Questscope for Social Development in the Middle East in Amman, Jordan